Turkish Choir Entertains Islamabad on ‘Kemal Day’

The renowned ‘Orfeon Chamber Choir’ from Ankara, Turkey, gave a charismatic performance at the Turkish embassy auditorium on Thursday evening to mark the 66th anniversary of the directive issued by Quaid-i-Azam to observe November 18 as ‘Kemal Day’ throughout the subcontinent.

The performance started a little late because of the delayed arrival of Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri. However, the delayed arrival of ministers and other top personalities has become part of the ‘security measures’ adopted to protect the VVIPs from ‘terrorist strikes’ and they have been advised not to reach any destination on the scheduled time announced. The guests soon became immersed in the choir’s performance.

Elnara Kerimova, the former member of the ‘Azerbaijan State Polyphonic Choir’, vigorously conducted the performance and the enchanting performers continued to rise from mellow to more and more warm and gay chords, hitting the crescendo like a volcanic eruption.

The choir was too overpowering and performed to an unusually disciplined audience. For a change, it was probably for the first time that not a single ring tone of cell phones was heard during the whole performance.

The choir also presented ‘Jeeway, Jeeway Pakistan’ which earned them a lot of appreciation from the crowd. One member of the choir was taken slightly ill and was quietly ushered off the stage, helped by another colleague, while the Turkish envoy, Hasan Kemal Gur, spoke briefly on the occasion…